Due consideration must also be given to the quality and cleanliness of air being generated through the compressor and ancillary equipment. Potential contaminants such as dust, pollens, hydrocarbons, oil, moisture and other impurities can come from ambient air, lubricants and other pollutants in the air reticulation system which can also cause costly damage to downstream equipment as well as product spoilage, so it is important that compressors output ‘Food Grade Air’.

Martin Curd, Sales Manager of Southern Cross Compressors, explained: “Using high quality coalescing and carbon filtration backed up by the use of a residual lubricant sensor to monitor compressed air and log (record) the hydrocarbon levels, the highest level of air quality can be achieved and sustained. At Southern Cross we use ‘STELLA’ Food Grade Synthetic PAO Compressor Lubricant which is food-safe, non-toxic, and developed for rotary compressors used in the food, drink and pharmaceutical processing and packaging industries to meet all NSF H1 \ Food Grade \ Food-safe standards for the use in HACCP Certified Food and Packaging Manufacturing Plants. Our FGO series filters are engineered to ensure the highest quality compressed air for food industry applications. The highly efficient FGO range of filters are designed for the highest contaminant retention (99.9999% efficiency) with minimal pressure drop resulting in premium quality compressed air with reduced operating costs.”

Martin said, “An example of this is an iconic regional Victorian food production plant that recently installed a third large Southern Cross KHE series, two stage compressor to cater to increased production and compressed air demands. Each compressor is connected into the system through dedicated filtration and drying equipment to provide extremely high quality air to the processes. Each compressor operates with a food grade synthetic lubricant and although the compressed air does not come into contact with the product, the air is considered highly suitable for food processing.”